Posts Tagged ‘apartheid’

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is advocating to suspend the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) from the International Union of Architects (IUA).

According to a report on the BDS movement website, RIBA voted 23-16 with 10 abstentions on March 19 to boycott the Israeli organization.

The motion called on the IUA to suspend the Israeli organization’s membership “until it acts to resist these illegal projects, and observes international law, and the IUA Accords and Resolution 13….[which] states that ‘The IUA Council condemns development projects and the construction of buildings on land that has been ethnically purified or illegally appropriated, and projects based on regulations that are ethnically or culturally discriminatory, and similarly it condemns all action contravening the fourth Geneva Convention.’ “

There is rich irony in that motion, given the definitions of “ethnic purification” and “cultural discrimination” and the countless examples of its lack of relevance anywhere in Judea and Samaria, let alone in Jerusalem.

The land referred to in the motion is polka-dotted throughout Judea and Samaria with Arab and Jewish farming villages and towns – so much so, in fact, that negotiators on both sides still cannot figure out a realistic way to separate them. That’s because they live ‘cheek-and-jowl’ – the truth is, many of those communities are close neighbors and if they would have been left alone, would have remained at peace.

Anyone who has driven through Judea via Highway 60 and stopped off to shop at the Rami Levi supermarket also knows how ridiculous the accusation is. The bustling enterprise, owned by Israeli Jewish businessman Rami Levi, employs both Palestinian Authority Arabs and Israeli Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, most of whom are observant Muslims, Christians and Jews. Moreover, the store is crowded from morning till night likewise with shoppers of the same ilk: Palestinian Authority Arabs and Israeli Jews, all of whom are residents of Judea and Samaria – all intent on one thing: making sure they get what they need for their families and getting home in time for dinner.

In Jerusalem, the accusation of “discrimination” is even sillier: there is not one major Israeli hospitality industry institution in which Arabs do not play a major role. Step into any hotel, be it rated at two stars or five, and see if you can find any staff without at least several high-ranking Arab employees. Likewise the health clinics, hospitals and other offices in the holy city. Hadassah Medical Center is headed by an Arab professional, in fact.

The word “apartheid” in the British Oxford dictionary is defined as “a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race” that historically began with South Africa. Although it has been flung at Israel over its security and defense policies, nevertheless the facts on the ground belie the charge – as anyone with clear eyes can see.

Perhaps United Nations personnel should step out of their white cars once in a while, rather than simply drive through Arab villages, and up and down Highway 60 in the night. Were they to do so, the BDS movement would have a lot less traction.

The Boycott Israel movement has unwittingly given the pro-Israel crowd 14 great ideas how to expose the Big Lie of BDS as it gears up for its 10th annual international Israeli Apartheid Week that is scheduled in the United States and Britain next week and in South Africa, the Palestinian Authority, Europe and Brazil in March.

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement is a well-greased machine with a well-financed and professional propaganda network.

The State of Israel and dozens of Jewish synagogues and organizations around the world have protested BDS to tear part its anti-Israel arguments and lies and even have countered it with “buy-cott” drives to encourage people to buy Israeli-made products.

However, the pro-Israel crowd has not been able and perhaps has not even tried to unify its efforts.

The haters of Israel have come up with 14 suggestions for Israel-haters to adopt for Israeli Apartheid Week, and the same ideas could be used against BDS.

It is a tough fight because the BDS movement has the support, sometimes unannounced and sometime unannounced, of dozens of countries, especially those in Europe. The image of a lone person upholding Tel Aviv Palestinian flag against an Israel tank is a perfect picture to get across the lie that Israel is at war with the Palestinian Authority population.

The pro-Israel folks need more than good intentions. They need professionals to come up with a slick poster and video to expose the Big Lie.

Meanwhile, here are 14 ways people can get involved in exposing BDS. All of the ideas are taken from the Boycott Israel’s “13 Ways [they can’t count very well] You Can Get Involved in Israeli Apartheid Week” campaign.

Screen A Palestine Pro-Israel Movie Or Documentary Film:

Make full-feature movies and documentary films available and free of charge for screening at universities, schools, community centers and workplaces.

This documentary is by American nationally syndicated radio talk show host and syndicated columnist and author Dennis Prager. He majored in Middle Eastern Studies and History at Brooklyn College and was a Fellow at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, where he did his graduate work at the Russian Institute (now the Harriman Institute) and Middle East Institute.

Host Music Event, Poetry Evening or Sports Day

As part of the Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) pro-Israel movement, organize a sports day, soccer tournament, music event or poetry evening with local or national artists. Consider inviting an Palestinian Israeli poet/artist as well.

Spray Paint Graffiti or Paint a Mural

Create a painting/mural/graffiti with “Israeli Apartheid” pro-Israel as the theme. Reach out to local artists, friends, activists, media and community members to get involved. Remember to share your photos and video footage. WARNING: When BDS folks spray graffiti, it is considered a protests. When pro-Israel people do it, it is called a Price Tag attack.

Host a Lecture, Rally, Workshop

There are several national and international speakers who can speak on the issue of Palestine Israel and the lie of Israeli Apartheid.

Flyer distribution at your school, university, workplace and on the street.

Get together with a branch of your organization, a group of friends or colleagues and distribute flyers at a high-traffic area.

Write a Poem, Article or Song for Your Local Newspaper, Contact Your Local Radio Station, Write a Letter to the Editor – Raise Awareness in the Media!

You can write an article or letter on the topic of Israel and the BDS Lie for a local newspaper, magazine or other publication. Alternatively contact your local radio station/TV station and request a discussion on Israel and Palestine. Write and publish your own poem, song or article.

Have Your Church, Synagogue or Temple Participate

Arrange for the topic of your synagogue’s activities or church’s Sunday service to be on the lie of Israeli Apartheid Week and the Palestinian struggle. Last year the South African Council of Churches called on all member churches to devote their Sunday Service during Israeli Apartheid Week to the topic of Palestine. Synagogue and pro-Israel church organizations can do the same for Israel if they take the initiative.

Organize an Anti-BDS Protest

Arrange a protest against a store or company that stocks boycotts Israeli products such as Ahava Cosmetics, SodaStream, Israeli Fresh Produce (in Woolworths etc.) and Israeli Dead Sea products.

Be Creative

Build a mock Israeli Apartheid Wall Arab suicide bombing and terrorist attack and set up an Israeli checkpoint with a terrorist camouflaged as a pregnant women. Organize a flash mob and facilitate a balloon release.

Contribute money.

Contact pro-Israel organizations, encourage them to unify and make a contribution.

Go Online

Help spread the word online using blogs and social media.

Endorse

Have your organization endorse the pro-Israel movement and expose the lie of the Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) campaign.

The video below shows one lone Jew, later joined by two others, waving an Israeli flag at a Boycott Israel rally. Tune in to the very end for the knowledge of the BDS crowd.

This report was compiled with information from Tazpit News Agency and Tzipi Shlisel.

Jews driving through Hebron on Sunday morning were surprised to be hit by a barrage of rocks. Many private cars as well as a bus were hit at the Erez junction, near the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

One of the vehicles had its windshield shattered. No one was injured, thank God.

The drivers were surprised to realize the rocks were being thrown at them from behind a TIPH vehicle, which was being used for cover.

TIPH monitors in Hebron.

Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) is an international civilian observer mission stationed in the city of Hebron. It was first established in Hebron in 1994, and then shut down a few months later. After multiple attempts, the temporary presence was more permanently reestablished in 1997 and continues operating until today, with a temporary break in 2006 during the Palestinian riots and attack on TIPH headquarters.

The stated mandate of the mission is “to promote by their presence a feeling of security to the Palestinians of Hebron and to help to promote stability in the city.”

It appears that TIPH is doing their job very well, as these Palestinian Authority citizens felt very secure in using a TIPH vehicle as cover for attacking Jews.

Following the attack, a number of the Jewish citizens began to chase after the stone throwers, but the latter managed to escape into Palestinian Authority controlled Hebron (H1) which makes up more than 80% of this ancient Jewish city, and where Jews are forbidden to enter under Palestinian Authority Apartheid laws.

According to its mission statement, TIPH monitors the situation in Hebron and reports on breaches of the agreements on Hebron between the Israeli and the Palestinian side, as well as international humanitarian law and international recognized human rights standards.

Please inquire at +970-2-222-4445 for general information, and to report this incident (24/7) try +970-1-800-100 600. Their email is info@tiph.org.

The Israeli Left, which is chareidi extremist in its worship of all Leftist projects and issues has been bombarding the media, which they actually run, with what they call the disgraceful lack of “a senior delegation” to “Memorial Ceremony” or whatever has been going on is South Africa.

On Thursday evening, Channel 10’s Or Heller, reporting from Johannesburg, expressed disappointment “as an Israeli” that neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor President Shimon Peres would be attending Tuesday’s memorial service for Nelson Mandela or Sunday’s funeral.He also stressed that the South African Jewish community was angry and ashamed that only a second-tier delegation (Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and MKs Pnina Tamano-Shata, Dov Lipman, Nitzan Horowitz, Gila Gamliel and Hilik Bar) would be representing Israel at the events. Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom

Mandela was very old; he was of my father’s generation, born just a year before him. Mandela’s contacts with the Arabs were from very early on. Mandela was obviously an intelligent man, and I found via professor google a very interesting public letter he had written to Thomas Friedman:

Perhaps it is strange for you to observe the situation in Palestine or more specifically, the structure of political and cultural relationships between Palestinians and Israelis, as an Apartheid system. This is because you incorrectly think that the problem of Palestine began in 1967. This was demonstrated in your recent column “Bush’s First Memo” in the New York Times on March 27, 2001.

You seem to be surprised to hear that there are still problems of 1948 to be solved, the most important component of which is the right to return of Palestinian refugees. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not just an issue of military occupation and Israel is not a country that was established “normally” and happened to occupy another country in 1967. Palestinians are not struggling for a “state” but for freedom, liberation and equality, just like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa.

In the letter to Friedman, he wrote that he didn’t see the Arabs as demanding a state. I have no doubt that was the case fifty years ago, before the Left, international and Israeli, convinced the Arabs here that they are “Palestinian” and needed their own state Mandela brings up one of the points which I use to prove that Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six Days War and the land we thereby liberated is not the cause of the “problem” between us and the Arabs.

This so-called “Palestinian nation” is something very new, and it doesn’t have a long history. It was invented by those who wanted to delegitimize Israel. And unfortunately the “cause” has been adopted even by Israelis who refuse to see that such a state would cause the destruction of the State of Israel, God forbid.

It is a necessary but sad evil when leaders like President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas have to cry over Nelson Mandela’s death even though both leaders, in their own ways, exploited or ignored him for their own causes, however justified in their own eyes.

Abbas and Peres should not be mentioned in the same breath, but the truth is that both are masters of manipulation whose mourning for Mandela to a certain extent is a mask for an uglier truth.

Abbas undoubtedly has proven himself to be a chess master par excellence in the diplomatic field, convincing virtually the entire world that the Palestinian Authority is some poor, hapless victim of apartheid and not a regime that was born out of terror and breathes and lives on the threat to kill Jews.

Abbas also is just another hapless Arab whose definition of helping his constituents is to create the right conditions for the destruction of Israel as Jewish state. For this, he rewrote the history of Mandela’s support for the Palestinian Authority as a country but on condition that Israel remain secure.

President Peres has turned his constant failure to be elected Prime Minister in his own right into a worldwide success as the Preacher of Peace and the naïve if not foolish pawn of anti-Zionists who have played on his vanity and weighed him down with every decoration and medal on earth so long as he keeps playing “nice Jew.”

So what if Jonathan Pollard still is in jail? Peres perhaps figures that his being awarded the Freedom Medal by President Barack Obama gives him more leverage to win Pollard’s freedom, just like he was sure that expelling Jews and pulling the IDF out of Gaza would guarantee peace and quiet for Israel.

But to Peres’ eternal credit, he also led the secret and not-so-secret effort to make Israel an undeclared nuclear power.

As a man of peace, it is only natural that Peres eulogize Mandela, who is not around to remind Peres that while the president was carrying out his duty to Israel to help its nuclear development, he did so while Mandela was suffering in his prison cell.

Abbas has served his cause faithfully, regardless of it being based on some of the biggest lies since Hitler and the Holocaust, which Abbas honored in his doctoral thesis that the Shoah really didn’t happen.

In short, yes, Abbas is a liar and a louse, but he is masterful at it.

He hailed Mandela as a “symbol of freedom from colonialism and occupation,” whose death “is a great loss for all the peoples of the world, and for Palestine.”

Even Hamas chipped in and called Mandela “one of the most important symbols of freedom and one of the most important supporters of the Palestinian people’s cause.”

Using the African apartheid to describe the Israeli “occupation” and security fence along Judea and Samaria is one of those gross and obscene propaganda tactics that historians will correct at some time in the future, on the assumption that “the truth will out.”

For anyone writing history now, refer to Mandela’s tour of the Middle East in 1999.

He indeed supported the idea of a Palestinian Authority state and that “talk of peace remains hollow if Israel continues to occupy Arab lands, but he said in the same breath, “I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.”

He made no mention of the “Green Line” or the 1949 “Temporary Armistice Lines.”

Mandela, like Peres, viewed the world through his own dreams and experiences, no matter how foreign from the Middle East. He saw Israel as practicing apartheid, and he also viewed Iran as a country that has no evil intentions towards Israel.

So much for his prowess in world affairs outside South Africa.

Lots of people kissed Mandela. One of them was Yasser Arafat. Comparing the two men as freedom-fighters is something out of a science fiction horror movie, and historians will have a hard time justifying that equation.

Another man who kissed Mandela was Peres.

“The world has lost a great leader who changed the face of history,” said Peres. “Nelson Mandela was a human rights fighter who made his mark on the war against discrimination and racism.”

The Israeli president said the right words at the right time in the name of the country. For all of Peres’ illusions, historians might remember him not so much for his peace preaching as for his leading Israel into the nuclear era.

Peres must be praised and complimented, but his contribution towards helping Israel be able to defend itself against even the worst imagineable threat does not remove the warts.

NBC News investigative journalist Robert Windrem reported Sunday that in the 1970s, while Mandela “was languishing in a damp prison cell on Robben Island, Peres was making deals with South Africa’s apartheid regime to trade missiles for money and the uranium needed for atomic bombs.”

Peres was defense minister at the time, and Yitzchak Rabin was Prime Minister. An agreement was made, according to NBC, to help South Africa carry out a propaganda campaign to brighten its image. South Africa paid handsomely for Israel’s help, and the close relationship between the two countries flourished to the point that they cooperated on military and nuclear development.

One of the key players in convincing South Africa to enter the agreement was a man names Eshel Rhoodie, according to NBC, which based its report on interviews and documents, including a book based on Israeli and South African government documents.

Another key person was Arnon Milchan, a Hollywood billionaire who two weeks ago confided that he was instrumental in helping Peres to advance Israel’s nuclear development.

“Israel certainly developed its own nuclear weapons, apparently with the help of South Africa” NBC reported. “Rhoodie and another high-ranking South African official told NBC of an arrangement between the two countries in the late 1970s in which South Africa supplied 600 tons of uranium to Israel in return for 30 grams of tritium, used to detonate nuclear weapons. The uranium was codenamed ‘mutton,’ the tritium ‘tea leaves and the overall exchange was called ‘Project Mint.’”

Peres was far from trying to back Mandela’s fight against apartheid. Rightfully putting Israel’s security above everything, the Israeli government provided the apartheid regime with Jericho missiles or at least Jericho technology.

This is known from computer imagery from U.S. spy satellites that tracked a missile launch east of Cape Town and discovered the images to be identical to Israel’s launch of the Jericho. With the Jericho, the South Africa regime was in a better position to win leverage in the region.

Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994, when relations with Israel were poor, to say the least.

A book in 2010 included previous nuclear sharing between South Africa and Israel, claims which Peres denied, although Milchan’s comments two weeks ago categorically state otherwise.

“I did it for my country and I’m proud of it,” Milchan said.

Peres cannot dare tell the truth. That is the price he has to pay for having been loyal to Israel’s security needs.

Abbas also cannot tell the truth about Mandela’s clarification of his support for a Palestinian Authority state. That is the price he pays for being loyal to the Arab religion of hate.

Mandela’s legacy can live without any reminders from Abbas and Peres, but both played their parts masterfully.

President Barack Obama finally has given Americans a fun issue to debate so they can take their minds off Iranian nukes, Syrian chemical weapons and the zillion dollar debt, but the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is playing party pooper by turning it into a Jewish issue.

If the Washington Redskins’ football club owner Dan Snyder were not Jewish, would the name “Redskins” make such a difference to the ADL?

Other teams have also come under fire, including the Cleveland Indians, whose hook-nosed, red-faced mascot Chief Wahoo has been called racist and offensive, the JTA reported. The Atlanta Braves baseball team also is in the same club of offending an ethnic group.

“Tradition matters, but tradition should not justify the perpetuation of such names and mascots,” said ADL national director Abraham Foxman. “A name change will not impact how a team fares on the field, or in the standings.”

Snyder is sticking to his guns, or bow and arrow, and the Washington Post reported that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said, “It would be a real mistake – a real mistake – to think that Dan, who is Jewish, has a lack of sensitivity regarding somebody’s feelings. I promise you that.”

President Obama has turned the issue into a national debate, not the most burning issue for the great American empire but at least one that is a bit lighter than all of the burdens Americans carry because of an increasingly deaf and dumb government.

“I’ve got to say that if I were the owner of the team and I knew that there was a name of my team, even if it had a storied history, that was offending a sizable group of people, I’d think about changing it,” President Barack Obama said.

Not to many years ago, any ethnic group would have been proud to have a baseball or football team named after them. The “Baltimore Jews” or the “Brooklyn Blacks” would not have been offensive. It would have been badge of honor.

Even today, Walt “Red Hawk” Brown, the chief of Virginia’s Cheroenhaka Nottoway Tribe that was recognized by the Virginia General Assembly in 2010 but is not federally recognized , told a Richmond, Virginia television station that it’s “a great honor” when Native American words are used in popular culture.

“Why would my president says [Redskins is] is offensive to him?” Brown asked. “What’s offensive to me is this: we have 11 state recognized tribes, and he hasn’t done one thing to get those tribes federally recognized.”

But his voice is drowned out by the Melting Pot culture that not too many decades ago decided that Negro was too close to “nigger” and had to be replaced with “black,” which was not ethnic enough and had to be replaced with “Afro-Americans.”

But a Jew still is a Jew.

Or as Tom Lehrer once sang, “During National Brotherhood Week, National Brotherhood Week, “It’s fun to eulogize/The people you despise… Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics/And the Catholics hate the Protestants/And the Hindus hate the Muslims/And everybody hates the Jews.”

Consider the recent poll that shows more and more Jews, especially those who might not be Jews according to Jewish law but like to consider themselves as Jewish, regard their religion as a culture. That way, maybe the Jews won’t be hated, except by God for rejecting the concept of The Chosen People, which is obvious racism to the politically correct.

A “stomach Jew” used to be one who did not observe much of the Torah but ate gefilte fish. Today a “stomach Jew” is one who can eat shrimp while wearing an “I Love Israel” shirt.

If the “Redskins” is so suggestive of racism, Obama and Foxman have the wrong reasons for being so sensitive. And where is U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry when we need him to remind everyone of American history?

Doesn’t anyone remember that the tiny U.S. government occupied the West Bank of the United States and put the Indians in refugee camps, called “reserves?”

There was no need for an Apartheid back then because the good Christian whites simply gunned down the Indians by the hundreds and by the thousands as part of the peace process.

Does pressing Snyder to bury the name “Redskins” cleanse the past and sterilize the present?